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St. Johns mirrors state's tourism spike in second quarter

Gov. Rick Scott laughs as he talks to a supporter during a visit to a local business in Miami, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2014. Visit Florida, the state's tourism bureau, announced this week that there was a 3 percent increase in tourists visiting Florida in the second quarter this year compared to last year. The number of tourists coming to Florida between April and June amounted to 24 million people, according to preliminary figures Visit Florida provided in a news release. Gov. Rick Scott credited a robust marketing campaign which focused largely on increased advertising for the uptick in tourism. "This year, we invested $74 million into Visit Florida and set a goal to have 100 million visitors visit the Sunshine state, which we are well on our way to reaching," Scott said in a news release. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

Florida is drawing them in — all of Florida.

Tourism is booming on the First Coast and across the state, according to data recently released that show the number of visitors to the Sunshine State increased dramatically in the second quarter of 2014 running from April through June.

Tourism officials at all three coastal counties on the First Coast are reporting impressive figures. Those officials also say there’s no sign of slowing down.

St. Johns County, which has one of the most vaunted tourism destinations in the state with St. Augustine, the nation’s oldest city, tourism officials say they’re energized by recent trends.

Duval County tourism officials also are beaming as a flood of visitors to Jacksonville for festivals like One Spark, Welcome to Rockville, Jazz Fest and the inaugural Florida Country Superfest boosted tourism numbers.

In Nassau County, the draw was the shiny renovated resorts on Amelia Island including the Ritz-Carlton and Omni Plantation.

“We’re having a record year,” said Gil Langley, CEO of Amelia Island Convention &Visitors Bureau in Nassau County. “We’re settings records each month.”

In 2013, tourism officials across the state reported visitation was beginning to increase rapidly in the midst of recovery from the Great Recession. The second quarter of 2014, though, exceeded expectations, several officials said.

Visit Florida, the state’s tourism bureau, announced this week that there was a 3 percent increase in tourists visiting Florida in the second quarter this year compared to last year. The number of tourists coming to Florida between April and June amounted to 24 million people, according to preliminary figures Visit Florida provided in a news release.

Gov. Rick Scott credited a robust marketing campaign which focused largely on increased advertising for the uptick in tourism.

“This year, we invested $74 million into Visit Florida and set a goal to have 100 million visitors visit the Sunshine state, which we are well on our way to reaching,” Scott said in a news release.

First Coast tourism officials were quick to point to local initiatives for the spike in visitors to the region. Data from hoteliers are the main sources of information on increased tourism – and money flowing into the region.

In St. Johns County, Goldman is bullish on the trends.

“Records were set last quarter in occupancy, average daily rate, revenue per available room, demand (room nights sold) and revenue,” Goldman said Thursday.

Goldman has previously credited a new marketing plan to tag the St. Johns County area as the “Historic Coast” as part of the reason for trends of increased tourism. About four years ago, Goldman intentionally broke from the First Coast moniker and started using Historic Coast in advertising and promotional material hoping to capitalize on St. Johns County’s deep cache of historical links.

But he also acknowledged increasing demand for lodging is leading to the expansion of the supply.

“We’ve been told that it was the consistent growth and strength of demand for the destination which has driven the decisions to build new hotels,” Goldman said. “We have five (new) projects in various stages of development.”

Astleford said perhaps the most successful spring festival season for Jacksonville in memory drove its increase in numbers.

“All of those events are contributing to the traffic coming into Jacksonville,” Astleford said. “When that traffic starts to build, so do the occupancies and so do the average rates.”

Astleford said he expects some of that trend to continue from other festivals this year as already some are being planned for the fall such as the Connection Festival to celebrate local music is planned for next month. Organizers of that event credited One Spark, which drew more than 240,000 people, for inspiring the event.

Those high-profile events in each month from April through June resulted in increased hotel occupancy in Duval County, according to Smith Travel Research.

The record breaker in Jacksonville was in June, proving the most profitable rate average for hoteliers, Astleford said. The revenue per available room, which means revenue that goes beyond expenses and operations, came in at about $54.50 each, a 14.1 percent increase over 2013. That’s the highest revenue per available room for Duval County since Smith started tracking local tourism data a decade ago.

In Nassau County, Langley said major overhauls to the staple resorts have attracted more tourists there.

Between 2011 and 2013, a combined $165 million was spent on major renovations and structural overhauls at the two main resorts on Amelia Island including the Ritz-Carlton and Omni Plantation, both off of Florida A1A.

Langley said his agency never promotes just one property, but the revamps of both of those major resorts add up to more people visiting the area.

“We have a fresh and expanded product that people are aware of and are taking advantage of,” he said.

Occupancy rates at Nassau County hotels all increased over a year ago.

The most telling figure may be at the Ritz-Carlton, Langley said. That resort reported a 90 percent occupancy in May. The resort has never had an entire month that was occupied 90 percent of the time, Langley said.

STAYING, SPENDING

There’s been an increase in tourism for the spring quarter of 2014 on the First Coast. Here are numbers from the lodging industry that show the spikes:

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